Cranbrook suffered a disappointing 5-1 home defeat in their Macron League Division Five meeting with Bravehearts.

Not for the first time this season, Cranbrook boss Jon Martin was struggling for numbers and needing to make changes – a situation made worse when one of the ‘starting’ players had to leave 30 minutes before kick-off when his partner was taken ill.

It all left Martin having to play an injured centre back in goal and he was forced to field a different back four for the fifth successive outing!

Cranbrook made a decent enough start to the game and only fell behind to a 20th minute strike that ‘skimmed’ off the wet surface and beyond the reach of the makeshift glovesman.

The response was good and parity was deservedly restored when winger Reece Saunders struck.

There followed a period of dominance for Cranbrook during which time the Willand-based opposition twice cleared from their goal line before they scored at the other end to lead 2-1 at the break.

The start of the second half is when everything went wrong for the home side as Bravehearts scored three goals in quick succession.

A late flurry from the home side proved too little, too late and the final whistle was blown to put the home side out of their misery.

A thoroughly disappointed Cranbrook boss said: “For a 20-minute period in the second half it looked as if we had ‘thrown in the towel’.

“The worrying thing for me is, that is something I have not seen in the three years we have been together as a team.

“It was awful to watch and an embarrassing experience for me. I can forgive players for making mistakes, but I won’t forgive anyone for letting their head go down and giving up!

“Some players tried to raise the side and showed character, but too many shirked the responsibility of trying to get us back into the game.”

Martin continued: “I’ve seen this coming since the narrow win against Starcross, but I didn’t think that we’d fail in such a dramatic fashion.

“The plain truth is that our 90-minute overall show against Bravehearts was simply not good enough and if I can get a couple back from injury then changes will be made.

“I’ve already approached a new attacking player and it’s fingers crossed that I’ll be able to get him in this week, but I need to add a couple of experienced players to the team.”

“I told the players before the game that they needed to improve by 20 per cent to compete with the top sides in the league.

“Unfortunately, their levels dropped by 20 per cent in the second half.”

The Cranbrook boss would love to hear from any prospective new players and anyone who would like to get involved is asked to give him a call on 07968 441830.

The defeat leaves Cranbrook sitting fifth in the early table and on Saturday (September 29) they travel to Mid Devon to face a Bampton Reserves that are second in the fledgling Division Five table.